I passed up their Lolla pre-show which I heard was amazing so I scored tickets right away for their November return to Chicago at the House of Blues. Should be a pretty good way to celebrate my birthday! If only it wasn’t on a Monday…

Here’s a look at what you missed if you didn’t catch them at Lolla this year. See if you can spot me in the crowd.

Tix

Chicago’s own, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound are playing a free show at Reckless Records in Lakeview on Record Store Day (Saturday 4/20). It’s an acoustic set, but something tells me it’s still going to get crowded in there…

Tix

I got Family by Lauren Dukoff today, a book of photographs she took of musician friends like Joanna Newsom, Vetiver, and Devendra Banhart. After seeing 50 pictures of Devendra looking bad ass – like playing a classical guitar with seven rings on and wearing velvet pants, I decided that I need to go to this show.

Tickets

I’ve seen Conor Oberst with Bright Eyes, Monsters of Folk, and as himself, but never with Desaparecidos – his rock band. They put out one awesome record called Read Music, Speak Spanish 10 years ago and then disappeared until reuniting for a small reunion tour last summer. This is their first time in Chicago since reforming.